University of
West Alabama
Public College in Livingston, AL. Six-year graduation rate 32%. Median 10-year earnings $44,232.
Ten years after entry, the median University of West Alabama student earns $44,232 — a solidly middle-of-the-pack result for an undergraduate institution. Only 32% finish within six years, so roughly two in three students leave without the credential they enrolled for. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $24,944, neither a bargain nor a burden. On economic mobility, 2.5% of students travel from the bottom income quintile to the top.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Graduation rate 32% — below national average
Admissions
University of West Alabama admits 43% of applicants and is genuinely selective — roughly three in five applicants are turned away. 2,729 students applied in the most recent cycle — a mid-sized pool drawn mostly from the surrounding region. Yield sits at 33% — the remainder of admitted students enroll elsewhere or not at all. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 3% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, and test-optional applicants are not represented in them.
Test score bands (middle 50% of submitters)
These bands describe the enrolled first-years who submitted a score, not the entering class. Where most students apply test-optional the submitters are a self-selected, higher-scoring group.
| Test | 25th–75th percentile | Submitted |
|---|---|---|
| SAT Evidence-Based Reading | 440–560 | 13 (3%) |
| SAT Math | 420–560 | |
| ACT Composite | 16–21 | 239 (61%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at University of West Alabama →Academics
Only 32% finish within six years, so roughly two in three students leave without the credential. Retention of 65% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. The distance between those two figures is the part worth noticing — students return for a second year at a much higher rate than they graduate, so attrition here is spread across the middle years rather than concentrated in the first. With 35% transferring out, this functions substantially as a stepping stone. A 19:1 ratio is unremarkable; expect a mix of lecture halls and seminars.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 2,666 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $13,954 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. Income makes less difference than usual: $12,179 at $0–30k, $16,755 at $110k+. 77% of students receive grant aid, averaging $6,532 — common but not automatic. 66% of students borrow federally, so debt is the norm rather than the exception.
Entering first-year students
A different, smaller group than the rates above: full-time students in their first year of college anywhere. The grant series here also excludes the "other sources" counted in the all-undergraduate figure, so the two are not comparable.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · 310 students
Net price by family income
The same students as the headline above, limited to those who received Title IV federal aid — a narrower group, with a lower overall average. IPEDS publishes no combined figure across these bands, so they should not be averaged into one.
| Family income band | Average net price |
|---|---|
| $0–30k | $12,179 |
| $30–48k | $12,523 |
| $48–75k | $14,606 |
| $75–110k | $18,550 |
| $110k+ | $16,755 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,757 of these 2,666 students, totalling $14,296,311 — an average of $8,137 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Sumter County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.
HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026
Veterans & GI Bill
VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)